How Do I Plan A Gluten Free Wedding?

[Shira]

I need help and ideas. I'm in Minnesota, in the Twin Cities metro area, and I need to figure out where to have a gluten free wedding reception for around 100 people. Enough of these people are from out of town, that I think we should probably provide dinner. I actually have found a bakery who will make us a cake (for anyone in MN who doesn't know, there's a fantastic Gluten Free bakery in Eagan called Bittersweet Bakery), but I'm sort of stuck on the reception.

Are there any hotels or hotel chains that are particularly good at meeting dietary needs and have particularly clean kitchens?

Is it better to go with a venue that allows outside catering? And does anyone know of a good caterer in the twin cities metro area? How do I tell if a caterer can be trusted to keep our food free of contamination?

Do you have any other advice or suggestions I haven't though of for making the reception gluten-free?

Thanks!

Shira

[tarnalberry]

If you really want to do a gluten-free reception, I'd suggest findind either an upscale place that will cook fresh, naturally gluten-free stuff, or thinking about the gluten-free options at Buca Di Beppo. (We had our reception there, before going gluten-free. You might actually be able to serve a mixed reception there - everything gluten-free except the pasta. But I hear they'll cook your own gluten-free pasta for you if you like.) If you have a lunch reception, you can go in when they restaurant is closed, so no one else is sending orders to the kitchen. It was really a fabulous place for a reception; everyone loved it. (And it's $20-$25 a plate, excluding alcohol.)

[mart]

Sounds like a difficult task, though surely not impossible. I always wondered what we'll do when our daughter has her sweet sixteens birthday party, and I just thought we'd tell the caterers to make hers and our son's dinners gluten-free with special instructions on pans, utensils, etc. and additionally with supervision from my husband. So maybe just make yours and your fiance's dinners gluten-free?

[mouse]

I myself would consider this a chance to show all the guests, that gluten-free cn be delicious. I have not entertained in this new home because of lack of energy. But, I have mapped out appetisers to desert of what I will serve. All will be gluten-free and no one will know the difference. Our gluten-free food is delicious and much more healthy then the people who eat wheat. I am sure that your friends and relatives think that you are not able to eat much. A good hotel or caterer would know how to do this. Younger chefs and caterers are being taught this in school. I went to a wedding in Idaho 21 months ago and the caterer and staff knew what gluten was. I was told what was safe to eat and it was fantastic. I hope you have a wonderful and fun filled wedding.

[tarnalberry]

armetta - I'm sure it'll work out great when you have people over. we have friends over for dinner all the time, and while I usually don't do anything particularly special (it's mostly stuff I've done before and will do again, at home, for just the two of us), they've always loved the food! we'll teach everyone we know, one step at a time, that gluten-free (and CF, in my case) food can be *delicious*! :-)

[Shira]

There's actually an excellent italian restaurant called Biaggis (look them up at www.biaggis.com) that can make any of their pasta dishes with Gluten Free pasta- and it's fantastic! In the twin cities there are two, one in Maple Grove, and one in Eden Prairie, but they can be found across the country as well. The one in Eden Prairie has a private party room that seats up to 30 or something (not big enough for my wedding reception).

Sounds like a difficult task, though surely not impossible. I always wondered what we'll do when our daughter has her sweet sixteens birthday party, and I just thought we'd tell the caterers to make hers and our son's dinners gluten-free with special instructions on pans, utensils, etc. and additionally with supervision from my husband. So maybe just make yours and your fiance's dinners gluten-free?

And thanks for the Buca suggestion. That might be something to look into. (And lunch hadn't occurred to me).

How can I tell if a caterer or hotel can be trusted?

[jkmunchkin]

Have you considered not having an entirely gluten free wedding and just making provisions for yourself. This is what I did. To be honest as much as I said I planned to eat at my wedding and not be one of the brides that doesn't eat at her wedding; I barely ate. I was just so busy talking to everyone, dancing, etc. that I had a few of the appetizers at the cocktail hour that my maitre'd brought me and a few bites of my entree but that was about it.

I don't know if it's worth going through the trouble of making an entirely gluten free wedding.

[Lisa]

At the 20 days to the wedding is counting down.....I have asked our caterer to prepare the meat with my requirements and spices, as well as the salmon. We will have cheeses and pate's That is enought for me to eat. The guests will have various breads and crackers. To be totally gluten free for 300 would be very difficult. But,. I know that I will have certain foods that will be safe for me to eat, especially, since I forking the bill. I will be happy with that.

The cake, I will not have as with will be traditionally gluten and for my guests. No big deal, for me, the mother of the bride.

Just select a few things that you would like to enjoy and make sure they are gluten free.

Our rehearsal dinner, grooms parents... the chef will contact me and I am going to supply them with gluten free soy sauce and whatever I need to have a meal that is safe. Unfortunately, life will not be the same, but it also can be worked out with planning.

20 days, OMG

[pinkpei77]

im getting married in 20 days as well!!

yayyyaaayy!!

we are doing buffet style reception for 100 and we are actually doing the cooking ourselves because we have me with celiac and im vegan.. my fiance is vegan and we have about 30 guests that are vegan. and his mom has all kinds of crazy food allergies.. msg..nitrates.. some cheeses..peanut butter.. but not peanuts...and the list goes on,

and then the rest of his family who are old school italian will die if they dont eat meat at every meal ( haha)

so we have to accomidate a very broad spectrum here and it would have a been a caterer's nightmare, not to mention soooooooooooooo expensive.

so we are having 8 differnet dishes and only 2 are meat

ok,.ill just give you the quick version of the menu..

caprese salad: fresh mozz. fresh tomatoes. fresh basil leaves. drizzled olive oil.

mixed spring greens . maple glazed walnuts. dried cranberries. tangerine slices. raspberry vinagerette.

a medierranen platter..hummus. grape leaves..etc.

baked spianch and artichoke dip

roasted rosemary red and purple potatoes with fresh greenbeans

bowtie pasta with roasted red and yellow peppers and asparagus

italian sausgae and peppers

italian meatballs

and the bread will all be seperate from the dishes

and ill be able to eat more than enough.

what we did for the cake is.. we just had a regular cake made and then next to the cake we will have a cupcake tower that will have cupcakes that are vegan and glutenfree !!!

i dont think it was very diffucult at all and everyone is excited to help cook!

were having a big cooking day saturday with like 10 people and everyone has jobs..

the good thing with our menu was to not make too many things that actually had to go in the oven or br heated again on sunday! most things can be served room temp!

i hope you have a fun time deciding for you wedding also!

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

Have you thought of having the wedding reception at Maggiano's in Edina??

Open Original Shared Link

My buddy had his wedding reception there (around 80 people) -- It is alsao family style (5 courses) and the chef has gluten free options for each course (even gluten free pasta).

The cost is around $33 a person (excluding alcohol), but I know for a fact that Maggianos can do a wedding that size and gluten free (and for a decent price)

Hope this helps...

Bronco

[emcmaster]

I'm going to echo the others that said that you probably shouldn't try to make the entire wedding gluten free, just your food. I'm getting married in a little over 2 weeks and I didn't even attempt to make it gluten-free. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about the part where we're supposed to "feed" each other cake. I guess I'll just feed him.

[jkmunchkin]

I'm going to echo the others that said that you probably shouldn't try to make the entire wedding gluten free, just your food. I'm getting married in a little over 2 weeks and I didn't even attempt to make it gluten-free. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about the part where we're supposed to "feed" each other cake. I guess I'll just feed him.

Ok well since you're getting married in 2 weeks it's probably not to late to modify your cake. Do what I did. I had them make the top tier of the cake a gluten-free cheesecake, and we cut from the top instead of the bottom. Each layer is kept seperate (not that you see that) so you don't have to worry to much about it touching the other layers, but just to be on the safe side he fed me from the upper most part of where the cake was cut.